MEDIVA - Media For Diversity And Migrant Integration

About the Project

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The MEDIVA project aimed to strengthen the capacity of the media to reflect the increasing diversity of European societies and thus foster a better understanding of immigrant integration processes at a time when social cohesion and integration policies were put to the test by an acute economic crisis. The project ran for two years from 31 December 2010 until 30 June 2012.

Migrant Integration in Europe and the Role of the Media

The social and economic integration of third country nationals into the societies they live in is an important challenge that the European Union has been facing for some decades. Migrants’ social integration and participation in the labour market is a prerequisite for social cohesion and economic prosperity for Europe as a whole. Unfortunately, unemployment and feelings of insecurity make immigrants from third countries easy targets of xenophobic and racist attitudes. Far right parties like the Front National in France, the Golden Dawn party in Greece or Lega Nord in Italy find convenient answers to the citizens’ worries by putting the blame for all sorts of social or economic problems on immigrants.

What is the Role of the Media?

In this context, the role of the media is crucial in promoting migrant integration and enhancing societal cohesion. The project team argued that promoting more inclusive societies is part of the ethical and business mission of the media sector. In this project its contribution to migrant integration was understood in four concrete ways:

(a) promoting migrants’ fair and polyphonic representation in the media;

(b) presenting a balanced view of migration-related issues;

(c) engaging immigrants as media professionals (journalists, audience, spokespersons);

(d) raising awareness of both media professionals and audiences on inequality and discrimination suffered by immigrants.

Research Findings and Outcomes

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Monitoring and Evaluation of the Media Capacity to Promote Migrant Integration

Responding to the challenge of migrant integration and to the need for the media to contribute to such integration, the project built a set of 'Media Assessment Indicators' aimed to monitoring and evaluating a media outlet’s capacity to reflect migration-related diversity and promote migrants' integration.

Such monitoring and assessment can take the form of self-evaluation and self-monitoring (by the management of a media outlet) or can take the form of an institutional monitoring and assessment mechanism, performed by the state, by a media ombudsman or by a media professional association.

The MEDIVA Indicators are qualitative and quantitative and are organised along four main dimensions:

1. Media content (what and how is presented in the news);
2. Media newsmaking and news gathering practices;
3. Media recruitment and employment policies and practices;
4. Media training schemes and practices.

These indicators are designed to be used for media outlets based in different countries with different editorial cultures and different media ownership structures as well as journalism traditions. The indicators are written in a simple language so that they can easily be translated into another country’s national language and include clear methodological instructions. The indicators are appropriate for different types of mainstream media (newspapers, TV, but also internet news sites); they are not designed to evaluate ethnic media.

For more information, consult the MEDIVA Diversity Indicators Toolkit, also available in  Albanian,  French,  German,  Greek,  Italian,  Polish,  Romanian and  Ukrainian languages.

The MEDIVA project conducted a series of pilot studies on the indicators in six European countries: Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and UK.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Special Issue

Triandafyllidou, A. 2013 (guest editor) Migrants and the Media in the 21st Century. Obstacles and opportunities for the media to reflect diversity and promote migrant integration, Thematic Issue, Journalism Studies, has appeared in I-First in November 2012 published 7, 3, summer 2013.

Themed Articles:

• The Representation of Third-Country Nationals in European News Discourse. Journalistic perceptions and practices by Samuel Bennett ,  Jessika ter Wal ,  Artur Lipiński ,  Małgorzata Fabiszak &  Michał Krzyżanowski
• Migrants and Media Newsmaking Practices by Eda Gemi ,  Iryna Ulasiuk &  Anna Triandafyllidou
• Migrant Workers in Europe’s Media by Eugenia Markova &  Sonia McKay
• Who Needs or Delivers Diversity Training? The Views of European Journalists by Neil O'Boyle ,  Franziska Fehr ,  Paschal Preston &  Jim Rogers

Policy Brief:

Migrant Integration in Europe: What role for the media?

Partners

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Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań and   School of English, Poland

Miramedia, The Netherlands

SIM - Society, Information and Media research centre, Dublin City University, Ireland

Working Lives Research Institute, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, UK

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Co-funded by the European Commission, DG HOME,  European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals.

The opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect the position of the EC.